Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 353 PM EDT Fri Mar 23 2018 Valid 00Z Sat Mar 24 2018 - 00Z Mon Mar 26 2018 ...Active weather continues for the West Coast... ...Heavy snow possible for portions of the northern Plains and Mississippi Valley... A swath of snow is expected to accumulate from the northern Plains to the central Appalachians over the next few days. As an upper level disturbance moves from the Rockies along with moisture on tap, a band of snow will continue to fall across the Dakotas and eastward into the Upper Midwest through this evening. The disturbance will slide eastward into the Mississippi Valley--resulting in the precipitation also shifting east and south. The axis of heavy snowfall is occur mostly in northeastern Iowa tonight through Saturday morning. By Saturday afternoon, most of the precipitation will shift to the Ohio, Tennessee Valley in addition to parts of the Southeast and into the central Appalachians. Most of the precipitation will be in the form of rainfall; however, snow is expected for a small portion of the Ohio Valley and the central Appalachians. By Sunday, showers will continue across the Southeast. A deep upper level low off the Pacific Northwest will give way to active weather over the next few days. The upper level low will stay offshore through Saturday night and will begin to move inland over the Central Great Basin by Sunday morning. Through tonight, moderate rainfall is expected along the Pacific Northwest and northern California--with heavy snow in the higher elevations of the Oregon Cascades, the Siskiyous and Shasta ranges of northern California, and the Sierra Nevada. Another wave of lighter precipitation is expected across these regions again on Saturday. The higher elevations will also receive additional snowfall but accumulation amounts will not be as much as what will occur on Friday. Furthermore, the Intermountain West and Great Basin will also experience light rainfall along with higher elevation snow over the weekend. Reinhart Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php